Orchard Gate J.K.’s Scrumpy Hard Cider was first brewed on a family farm in Flushing, Michigan in the 1850’s, and kept the farm solvent during the Great Depression and Prohibition. The orchard grows, harvests, and presses the apples right on the farm. It is time-consuming, and labor-intensive, but worth every bit of what it takes to make the best organic cider possible. Using no insecticides on the apples, as well as guinea fowl and Berkshire pigs to control fallen apples and pests, the orchard truly is an organic system. Never using concentrates, sulfites or preservatives, the orchard only uses two ingredients; juice and yeast. The apples ferment slowly, for up to six months, and then are aged for several weeks post-bottling. The time and care that goes into each bottle of hard cider is why there will be slight variations year to year, which is a good thing, cider is a natural product and should reflect the slight variations in nature while still maintaining consistent taste and quality.